The present invention relates to an IC card system adopting a so-called intelligent-type IC card which is capable of setting applications by itself.
In recent years of a so-called "cashless age" when cards issued by a credit card company are used, commodities can be purchased without cash.
Conventional cards include a plastic card, an embossed card, a magnetic stripe card, and the like. These cards can be easily counterfeited, thus posing a potential problem of illegal use.
In order to solve the above problem, an information card, i.e., a so-called IC card, incorporating an IC circuit storing an identification number which cannot be easily read out externally has been proposed. An IC card system combining the IC card and a card terminal has been developed.
The IC card used in the conventional IC card system has no power source, and it cannot be operated by itself. For this reason, data of all the applications which can be specified by an IC card is provided at a terminal. However, in practice, data of all the applications for the IC card cannot be stored in the terminal because of the very high volume of data necessary. In the conventional system, compatibility between the IC card and the terminal is limited, and results in lower efficiency and inconvenience to the card holder.
Meanwhile, an intelligent-type IC card has been proposed. The intelligent-type IC card incorporates a power source, can designate an application by itself, and sends the specification data to the terminal.
As described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 884,280 (the same assignee as that of this invention, with a filing date of July 10, 1986), now U.S. Pat. No. 4,727,244, however, in the system, when such a IC card is inserted in the terminal, power is supplied from the terminal to the card. At the same time, a reset signal (standardized by ISO) for energizing the card resets all the information in the card. Therefore, if the IC card is operated to designate the application and, thereafter, is inserted in the terminal, all the data inside the card may be cleared by the reset signal.